


(Un)familiar Territory

by lizardwriter



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Witch!Laura, catmilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5031646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardwriter/pseuds/lizardwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Useless witch!laura summons up more than she can handle when she attempts to summon a familiar and ends up with Catmilla instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Amy for the title (and I guess for tagging me in the prompt...). Thanks to Brit, Amy and Gabi for cheering this along. Based off of [this prompt](http://thespookoohaslanded.tumblr.com/post/130305780201/for-halloween-young-witch-laura-summons-up-a), so thanks to the anon as well.

Countess Carmilla Karnstein, vampire by rebirth, had largely been enjoying her afterlife.

Well, recently at any rate. She’d given her “mother” the slip a few decades prior, and after painting a few towns red with her “sister”, Mattie, she’d settled quite nicely into her own little den in middle-of-nowhere Eastern Europe. The townspeople knew enough to stay away, or, at least, to keep their torches and pitchforks at home if they approached (because it was nice to have meals walk themselves to her door on a regular basis), and, in return, Carmilla routinely transformed into a black panther and prowled around, making sure the local livestock was protected from any unwanted predators.

She was making one such patrol late one night when she began to feel a strange pull in the center of her body. She attempted to fight it, snarling against the bizarre sensation and ignoring the anxious clucking of the chickens in their nearby coop. Her front paws splayed forward against her will and her stomach dropped to the ground. She tried to push off of her back paws, but it felt like the entire ground was swallowing her whole. Her head began to spin and her clear vision became clouded, and then nothing. Blackness.

A strange type of blackness. Not the blackness of unconsciousness or the inside of one’s eyelids. A sucking, vacuous sort of blackness that had no end and no depth.

And then, suddenly, the blackness was gone, and she was blinking at the light of an alarming number of candles for such a small room. She growled low in her throat and surveyed her surroundings as her eyes adjusted. Candles, cauldron, white paint on the floor in the shape of a…

...pentagram. Oh. Lovely. Witches.

Carmilla halted her growl, sat up, and sighed. She continued to sweep her gaze around, and her eyes fell on an attractive, yet tiny young woman, clad in a black robe and a black pointed hat that looked a size too big and decidedly too tall to be perched on her head.

_A_ witch, Carmilla corrected her earlier assumption. Carmilla took in the surprise on the young woman’s face and snorted. A novice witch. Even better.

“Wow. That…That worked!” the young witch’s eyes darted from Carmilla to the large, dusty, leatherbound book on the stand beside her and back. “That really worked!” A look of satisfaction (tainted by perhaps a twinge of alarm) settled on her face. “Umm…Nice…kitty? Good kitty. You’re my familiar now. Okay?”

Carmilla stared at her blankly. She was her what now? She didn’t remember signing up for that. Could a vampire even BE a witch’s familiar?

“I thought most of you were smaller, to be honest.”

Carmilla continued to stare. No shit. How had a familiar summoning spell even worked on her? Carmilla was tempted to transform now and go ahead and burst her little bubble, but then the witch was looking so proud, almost triumphant, that Carmilla found she couldn’t just yet. She’d explore and find her a suitable replacement. An actual housecat or something, and then she’d take off and the witch would be none-the-wiser.

She probably shouldn’t encourage her. She seemed the type who was likely to summon something she couldn’t handle accidentally and end up getting hurt. Then again, Carmilla mused, she’d basically just done that. Better a vampire feeling charitable than a demon from some Hell dimension.

Carmilla shifted her weight, then stood. She stretched out her back and attempted to walk out of the pentagram, only to find that she couldn’t. It felt like she’d walked into a wall. She growled.

“Oh, right. The agreement. You have to agree to be my familiar. Standard terms. Nothing weird. Just help me with spells, help protect me, alert me to other supernatural presences, and, of course, never stray further than twenty-five meters from my side.”

The last term made Carmilla’s ears prick. Excuse her? Twenty-five meters of play? That was it? That was certainly going to be inconvenient.

Before Carmilla could make her dissent known, the small witch had pulled out what appeared to be a ceremonial dagger and dragged it across her palm. The smell of fresh blood hit Carmilla hard and she licked her chops, taking a step towards the girl without thinking.

She watched the dark red blood drip from the fresh cut into a small, black ceramic bowl, and then the witch turned to Carmilla, still holding the knife.

“I think just a drop should do it. It shouldn’t sting very much, I hope. I don’t actually know. Umm…You do understand what I’m saying, right? Familiars are supposed to be incredibly intelligent.”

Carmilla stared at the witch for a long moment. If she was really thinking what Carmilla thought she was thinking…Carmilla did her best to roll her eyes, though her current form was not overly conducive to it. At least she’d heal quickly, but, honestly, this was not going to work out well. Would the binding agreement even work with her? She’d be no average familiar, that was for sure. Still, if Carmilla didn’t agree, what might the witch accidentally summon up in her stead? She sighed heavily and nodded her head. She padded over to the witch, attempting to resist the enticing smell of her fresh blood. Carmilla eyed the knife for a second, and made a quick decision. She lifted her leg and nipped a precise wound in her leg, then proffered it to the witch.

“OH! Oh. Yeah, I guess that works. Um…Thanks,” the witch said, putting the knife down and rushing for the bowl. She held it beneath Carmilla’s leg and then hesitantly pressed above the wound, applying just enough pressure for a few drops of blood to drip out.

Carmilla didn’t so much as flinch.

A strange tingling began to spread through Carmilla’s body as the witch mixed the blood in the bowl. Carmilla didn’t like it, but after a moment it stopped, and Carmilla lowered herself and began to lick her fresh wound. It’d heal up in no time, but sometimes feline instinct just took over.  

“Okay, well, that felt weird,” the witch muttered to herself. “And, that should just about do it, then. You should be released from the circle.”

Carmilla stood and moved to the edge, eyeing the white line on the floor warily. She stuck out a paw, half expecting to hit the invisible barrier once again, but, when she encountered none, she stepped out of the pentagram.

Okay, well that was slightly better. Now she had a bit more freedom, at least.

Carmilla turned back to the witch, who was eying her with a bit of trepidation now.

“You’re not, like, going to eat me or something, right?”

Carmilla fervently wished that she could raise an eyebrow in cat form. She settled for an amused stare.

“Your response isn’t exactly reassuring.”

Carmilla relented. She shook her head from side to side.

“No, you’re not going to eat me?”

Carmilla nodded.

“Yes, you are going to eat me?”

Carmilla let out an annoyed huff and shook her head again.

“No, you’re not,” the witch said with a little more confidence.

Carmilla moved around the room, whiskers twitching as she took it in. It wasn’t very large. She sincerely hoped that there was substantially more to the witch’s residence, or they were going to be practically tripping over each other. Carmilla paused by the open window and felt the cool autumnal breeze hit her face. At least there WAS a window. That would come in handy.

Once she was satisfied that she had explored what there was of the limited space (and after she’d taken the liberty of blowing out a few candles to reduce the likelihood that the room would end up ablaze), she stepped up onto the single bed against one wall, circled, then curled up and laid down, head on her paws, observing the witch.

“That’s actually my…I mean I’m going to need to sleep on…” the witch began, but Carmilla simply stared at her.

Just because she was in feline form and, apparently, a familiar, didn’t mean that she didn’t enjoy being comfortable.

“I guess we can share,” the witch mumbled. She sat tentatively on the bed beside Carmilla and started to reach out, then hesitated. “Can I pet you? Is that okay?”

Carmilla eyed the hand reaching towards her and considered her options. She could bite it, but that probably went against the familiar agreement. Besides, it would make sticking around a little awkward. Plus, she did have an itch behind her right ear that it would be nice if someone got for her. Carmilla gave a slight nod of consent, and the young woman’s fingers brushed through the fur on the top of her head. The touch was light at first, but when it became clear that Carmilla had no intention of actively biting off her fingers, the witch settled in comfortably to scratching behind Carmilla’s ear and petting down her sleek coat.

Carmilla did her best to resist, but in the end, her purr betrayed her.

“I’m Laura, by the way.”

Carmilla snorted her acknowledgment.

“What should I call you? How about Kitty?”

Carmilla stiffened and snarled. Laura wasn’t going to win any awards for creativity, was she?

“Okay. Not Kitty. Did you have another name in mind? Do you already have a name?”

Carmilla nodded, unsure of how she was expected to convey what it was in her current form.

“Don’t suppose you can talk?”

Carmilla stared blankly at her.

“No, right, of course,” Laura muttered, nodding her head. A moment later an idea appeared to strike her. “This might be asking a bit much of an overgrown cat –“

Carmilla snarled again, but Laura ignored her.

“-but can you read, by any chance? Like do you know the letters?”

Carmilla narrowed her eyes, then nodded ever-so-slightly.

Laura looked positively gleeful, then she hopped off the bed and rustled around beneath it, pulling out a large trunk. She opened it and rummaged through before producing a thin board.

Oh. A Ouija board. Well, Carmilla supposed that would work. And, technically speaking, Laura was communicating with the dead. All right, then. Laura set up the board on the bed and began to explain how it worked, but Carmilla flopped a heavy paw down on the planchette and moved it to the C.

“C?” Laura questioned, and Carmilla moved the planchette over slightly to the A.

“A? C-a?”

Carmilla continued until she had spelled out her name.

“Carmilla?” Laura asked, her mouth exaggerating each syllable as she put them together.

Carmilla nodded.

“That’s an odd name for a cat.”

Carmilla stared coldly at her, and Laura quickly added, “But pretty. Very pretty.”

Carmilla knocked the Ouija board and planchette off the bed with a small swipe of her paw and settled back down comfortably.

“Hey!” grumbled Laura, but she got down and picked it up, storing it back in the trunk before sliding it back under her bed. “So,” Laura said, straightening, “what should we do first?”

\--

Feeding proved easier than Carmilla had initially feared. Laura, it turned out, lived in a decent-sized town in a small house just off-campus from a small university. If Laura had been in the middle of nowhere, her new invisible leash would have been a problem. As it was, Carmilla had hit the invisible boundary of her tether the first night and it had jerked her backwards. She had been less-than-amused.

Carmilla had managed to find a few regular feeding sources, though. A blonde who made doe-eyes at her a little too frequently for comfort was her easiest one. Carmilla was always careful to shift into her human form before meeting her and shift back well before slipping back into Laura’s bedroom through her perpetually open window.

Life as Laura’s familiar was…well, interesting. Laura had the makings of a competent witch. She certainly had the power. She definitely had the equipment. What she appeared to be lacking, other than the ability to stay quiet for longer than five minutes at a time, was guidance.

She was constantly muttering aloud as she read from the large spell-book or as she mixed one potion or another. More often than not the spells went nowhere and the potions had a bizarre tendency to turn into a purple sludge no matter what the ingredients.

Carmilla had taken to flipping through the ancient pages whenever Laura was out somewhere close enough that Carmilla could stay behind. Some of the pages were written in ancient dialects, which Carmilla suspected was only part of the problem. The book had clearly been cared for, though, and it was the sort of thing that was passed down from witch to witch. Usually at the end of training, Carmilla had thought, like a passing of the torch. A “here you go, young witch, I’m old and tired and like more naps than being the village witch affords me, so be a dear and take over for me” type of thing.

It made Carmilla curious. Who had cared for the book before Laura? Where was she now?

There were times, Carmilla had witnessed, when Laura would just look through the book without an apparent goal in mind. Her fingers would skim the pages almost lovingly and a sadness would darken her normally vibrant expression, but then, inevitably, she’d square her shoulders, get a determined glint in her eye, and say, “Right, well, we’re going to try this tonight.”

Carmilla had considered changing into her human form and asking her about it, but the girl still seemed so happy almost two weeks later that she’d actually managed to summon herself up a “real” familiar, that Carmilla just didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble.

Laura was in one of her experimenting moods tonight, and Carmilla was watching her warily from the relative safety of the bed.

“Two newt eyes?” Laura questioned, eying the spell-book again. “Two. Okay. One. Two,” Laura muttered, dropping the items in question into a cauldron that was already emitting a suspiciously purple smoke.

Carmilla did not foresee this potion turning out well.

A knock at the door interrupted Laura’s focus just as she was about to add what Carmilla was fairly certain was too much dried bat wing. 

“Come in!” Laura called, setting aside her potion-making for now, and turning to face her visitor.

A tall, athletically-built redhead entered the room, spotted Carmilla, and froze.

“Laura, don’t move!” the redhead commanded. 

Laura looked around confused. “But –“

“Laura, there is a large black panther on your bed.”

Well, this could be fun. Carmilla bared her teeth, just a little, and watched in amusement as the redhead simultaneously attempted to reach out for Laura and step back out of the door.

“Danny, that’s my familiar.”

“Your what?”

Laura sighed and Carmilla ducked her head down, narrowing her eyes and tensing her muscles, as if she might have been about to pounce. Danny took an automatic step back.

“My familiar. I summoned her almost two weeks ago, now.”

Laura’s chest welled up in pride, and she was practically beaming. Danny looked from Laura to Carmilla in disbelief.

“Laura, are you honestly trying to tell me that your familiar is a vicious jungle cat?”

“She’s not so vicious,” Laura informed Danny, crossing to Carmilla and scratching just under her chin.

Carmilla laid back lazily, but kept her gaze trained on Danny, just to make sure the redhead didn’t feel too comfortable. It was fun watching her on edge.

“She’s a bit of a pillow hog, though,” Laura added, and Carmilla let out a snort to indicate that she had, in fact, claimed the pillow as her own and maybe Laura should invest in a new one for herself.

“Have you lost your mind? Laura I know you like to dabble in this magic stuff, but –“

“It’s not dabbling!” Laura declared, instantly defensive.

Carmilla narrowed her eyes at Danny, deciding that she wasn’t all that fond of the overly-tall intruder.

“I’m a witch! By birthright!”

Danny sighed and Carmilla got the distinct impression that this was an argument the two had had before. “Laura, I know you’ve got some family history, but that doesn’t mean that you should go messing around with forces you don’t understand.”

While Carmilla was hard-pressed to find fault with the logic of Danny’s argument, she didn’t like the way Laura tensed and her heart was racing and her blood was pumping harder in her veins. Carmilla let out a low warning growl.

“Is your familiar going to attack me?”

Laura glanced at Carmilla. “No.”

Her voice lacked certainty and it was clear that Danny picked up on that as she stepped ever-so-slightly back again.

“Not unless she perceives you as a threat to me, at least,” Laura added.

Carmilla shot Danny a look that she hoped would convey that she hadn’t made up her mind on the giant’s threat level yet.

“Well, will you tell her I’m no threat, please! She’s looking at me like I might make a tasty lunch.”

Not quite what she’d been going for, but Danny’s blood was probably as good as the next person’s, so not completely out of the question.

“Come on, we’ve…We’re…”

Laura looked up at Danny expectantly, and Carmilla suddenly felt very much like she was intruding in the moment. She didn’t move a muscle.

“We’re what?” Laura asked when Danny didn’t continue, and Carmilla decided that she definitely did NOT like the tone of Laura’s voice right now. Or the way that Xena was looking at Laura.

Carmilla stretched purposefully, and reached out to put a paw on Laura’s leg. 

“See?” Laura said after another moment during which Danny floundered with words. “She’s just a large cat, essentially.”

Carmilla took issue with the word “just” and she extended her claws ever-so-slightly so that they caught in the fabric of Laura’s jeans just a teensy bit.

“Ow,” Laura grumbled, shooting Carmilla a glare.

Carmilla yawned widely.

“Maybe you should have her declawed,” Danny suggested.

Carmilla snapped her jaw shut quickly, feeling a touch of satisfaction at the sound and the way Danny jumped.

“Never!” Laura declared and Carmilla curved her mouth into a smile. She stared Danny down.

“Well, your new pet looks far too smug for my liking.”

“Familiars are intelligent.”

“Whatever,” Danny muttered, still eying Carmilla warily.

“Why’d you stop by, Danny?” Laura asked.

“Oh, I…I wanted to see if you wanted to go for coffee, but you’re clearly…” Danny looked Laura up and down from the tip of her pointy black hat to the bottom of her robe.

“I’m clearly what?” Laura prompted, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice that made Carmilla unreasonably happy.

“Busy,” Danny finished. “Maybe another time. And…without your pet.”

Carmilla yawned again, as Laura nodded. “Yeah. Maybe. See you, Danny.”

“See you.”

Danny left, closing the door behind her, and Carmilla turned her gaze to Laura who was staring at the closed door with the expression of someone who thinks they might have just lost something. After a few long moments, Laura turned to meet Carmilla’s gaze.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that.”

Carmilla stared back unblinkingly. “She’s really nice, usually. You just made her worry about my safety. And possibly sanity.”

Carmilla let out a snort.

“I mean _I_ know you wouldn’t hurt me, obviously, but you do look a little intimidating.”

Carmilla considered Laura’s words. She WAS a _vampire_. It’s not like Danny’s instincts had been that far off, really.

Laura sat down on her bed, her abandoned potion apparently forgotten. She seemed upset, so Carmilla inched closer.

“Sometimes with her I think maybe we have something…Something more, you know?” Laura murmured, absent-mindedly moving her hand to scratch behind Carmilla’s ear.

Carmilla didn’t respond. Laura could do better, in her opinion. She was annoyingly bubbly, and perhaps a touch too determined, but she was passionate about her incompetent witching, and she deserved someone who would support that, not belittle it. Carmilla ignored the idea that she might be just a little too interested to find out that Laura was, in fact, interested in girls. That would be silly. She just hadn’t had the chance to find Laura a new familiar. Once she did, she’d be gone.

Laura sighed heavily and Carmilla repositioned so that her head was in Laura’s lap. She could smell the disappointment on the girl.

“Then she goes and…She’s very overprotective. I don’t need overprotective.”

Carmilla let out a derisive snort, indicating that she wasn’t so sure about that, but Laura didn’t seem to notice as she moved to smooth the fur on the nape of Carmilla’s neck.

“My dad’s overprotective enough. I don’t need that in a girlfriend. And I just…I wish she took my magic seriously. I’m a witch. I mean, look at you. I wouldn’t have gotten a familiar if I wasn’t a witch. Maybe not all my potions and spells work out, but I still have power.”

_Too much for your own good, cupcake,_ Carmilla thought.

Laura slumped back and her head hit the wall with a dull thud. She sighed again. “I just wish my mom was here. I wish…” Laura swallowed hard and Carmilla could hear the swell of emotion in her voice when she continued. “I wish she’d had the chance to teach me all this stuff.”

Ah, well, that definitely explained a few things. Carmilla felt an ache in her chest for the poor girl. Carmilla stood and stretched, then repositioned herself so that her front paws and her head sat firmly across Laura’s lap.

Laura let out a sharp laugh that was laced with a sob and scratched Carmilla just under her chin. “She was a great witch, you know. Really. Kind and strong and beautiful. That’s what my dad says, at least.” Laura brought up a hand to wipe away the tears that had begun to trickle down her cheeks. “He says I look like her, but I don’t see it, really.”

_You are beautiful,_ Carmilla thought, then immediately pretended that she hadn’t. She understood loss. Hell, she’d suffered plenty of it, over the centuries. Sometimes the best remedy was temporary distraction.

Carmilla rolled onto her side and pawed playfully at Laura’s hand.

Laura chuckled and wiped her face again. “Sorry, did I stop petting you for a second, there?”

Carmilla leaned her head back, exposing her throat and inviting Laura to scratch her there. Laura took the hint.

“You’re pretty cute, you know.”

Carmilla wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but for now she’d let it go. Laura’s fingers found the spot just under the right side of her chin that just felt so damn good, and Carmilla began to purr. If Mattie could see her now, she’d never live it down, she knew, but Mattie wasn’t there and Laura didn’t know that she was anything other than a panther. For tonight, this would do quite nicely.

\--

Carmilla did not like where the night was headed for a number of reasons, she mused as she followed Laura through the ever-denser trees. First of all, Carmilla had a vague idea of things that lurked in dense forests at night, and she didn’t think that Laura was horribly capable of handling any of them. Then again, Carmilla thought, that was probably what she was there for.

Then there was the way that Laura was really a bit underdressed for the chill in the night air. Not to mention that the thin, flowy white dress she had on under her black robe made her look far too much like a virgin sacrifice.

On top of that, Laura was giddy from too much sugar. Carmilla was starting to have serious concerns about her diet, which seemed to consist largely of cookies, hot chocolate, and sugary breakfast cereal. Carmilla had half a mind to go raid the garden she’d noticed down the road and bring Laura back some vegetables.

Laura kind of bounced along with a nervous sort of energy, pausing every once in a while to look around and make sure they were headed in the right direction (something that Carmilla had very little confidence in). They retraced their steps a few times, but, after about a half-hour trek, during which Carmilla had been unimpressed about Laura’s nimbleness, they broke through the trees into a small, circular clearing.

“Here we are!” Laura declared brightly.

Carmilla sat down at the edge of the clearing and looked around. It didn’t seem all that interesting, and she wasn’t quite sure why they’d had to come all the way out here, when Laura opened up the backpack she’d brought and began placing crystals at various points around the clearing in a purposeful kind of way.

So, some sort of ritual, then, Carmilla concluded. It would be nice if Laura would tell her about these things before they happened.

Laura finished arranging the crystals to her liking, then set up a small pot in the center of the clearing, put in a few things that Carmilla couldn’t make out, hovered her hand above the pot, and mumbled a few words.

Bright white flames flared up from the pot, almost singing Laura’s hand as she jumped back, and Carmilla started forward, but then the flames settled to a soft, flickering yellow and orange. If she’d wanted fire, Carmilla could have provided that easily for her without the potential for her getting burnt. Being a vampire had some perks, after all. Then again, Laura still wasn’t aware of that little fact.

That became all the more evident when, a moment later, Laura glanced around nervously, muttered, “Well, I guess that’s all there is to it, then,” and began to shed her clothes.

The pointed hat was removed first, placed carefully at the base of a tree at the edge of the clearing. The robe followed quickly. She folded it and put it under the hat. Next, Laura kicked off her shoes.

Carmilla didn’t like where this was headed. There was some warmth emanating from the magical fire in the pot, but it was hardly enough to keep this silly witch from catching a cold on a night like this.

She trotted over to Laura, who was nervously glancing around the clearing again, and Carmilla picked up Laura’s shoes in her mouth and held them out to her.

“No, I’m supposed to be barefoot. The book said.”

Carmilla sighed, but nudged the shoes against Laura’s waist.

“Carmilla, no. Put them down.”

Carmilla reluctantly did so, and when she looked back up, Laura was pulling her thin dress over her head.

Oh. And she wasn’t wearing a bra. Good to know. Carmilla swallowed hard and looked away quickly, the image already burned into her brain of soft, inviting skin and tantalizingly pert breasts. _Oh, look at the trees. There’s a tree, and there’s a tree. Oh, look, another tree._

It was funny, Carmilla mused while doing her best not to be aware of the way that Laura was sliding her panties down her legs just next to her, that if she had been in her vampire form, she likely would have gladly looked. Then again, if she was in her vampire form, Laura would have known just how exposed she was and who exactly she was exposing herself to.

There was a blur of pale skin beside her and…That was Laura’s ass.

_Oh, look, do those trees have bark? Fancy that._

“Okay, Carmilla, I need you to move around the outer circle of crystals in a counter-clockwise direction. Got it?”

Wait, she was actually supposed to do things here?

“Carmilla?” Laura asked again.

Carmilla stood and, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground, began to make her way from crystal to crystal. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Laura making her way towards the fire in the center of the circle, and then Carmilla heard Laura’s voice sing out clearly in the still night air. Laura half sang a rhythmic chant, and then she began to dance, and, to Carmilla’s surprise, the crystals began to light up as she passed them. As Laura continued to dance and chant, Carmilla began to realize that her footprints were now glowing white on the ground behind her, creating a visible, illuminated circle in the clearing.

Before long, Carmilla noticed a sort of blue aura around her paws that spread up and around her body. She glanced at Laura, and her steps faltered. Laura looked downright ethereal, pale and naked and glowing with a soft golden aura. She was stunning, and Carmilla found that the sight took her breath away.

“Keep going, Carmilla!” Laura encouraged, and Carmilla realized that she had stopped to stare.

She turned her gaze quickly back to the ground and continued her movement around the clearing. The steady thump of her paws against the soft earth did nothing to dampen the image now ingrained in her mind. When the circle of footprints had blurred into an almost solid line and Carmilla had to close her eyes against the brightness, still, all she saw was Laura, beautiful and glowing and radiating goodness, and Carmilla knew: things had just gotten a little bit more complicated.

\--

It was really getting to be time. Carmilla needed to leave. She just…was having a little trouble doing so.

Carmilla had had no success in finding a replacement familiar for Laura. Part of that was because the local cats seemed to give her quite the wide berth. The other part of it was, well, honestly, Carmilla had stopped trying very hard.

She would never admit it out loud, but Carmilla _liked_ Laura’s company. She liked the way she mumbled to herself as she did everything and the way she absently scratched behind Carmilla’s ears when she was thinking her deepest and the way her brows furrowed when she read. Even the way her potions often backfired in a puff of smoke and a purple ooze was sort of endearing.

Carmilla sighed. She knew what her obnoxious vampire “brother”, Will, would call her if he was there. She’d bite his head off for it. She could just hear the smug jab “smitten kitten” in her head. She let out a low growl.

Laura looked up sharply from where she was studying her spell book. “Everything okay, Carmilla?”

Carmilla instantly ceased her growl and nodded. No, everything wasn’t okay, but it wasn’t exactly Laura’s fault and it didn’t put her in danger. Not really.

God, she was far too old for stupid crushes.

Carmilla stood and stretched and circled around Laura’s bed, pausing to knead at the mattress before settling down again. She watched as Laura slowly began to add ingredients into the cauldron, adjusting the flame beneath it from time to time.

“Stupid ancient languages,” Laura muttered, squinting at the spell book as she held up two bottles of potential ingredients.

Carmilla perked up. She considered the ingredients that Laura had already put in the cauldron and then eyed the two options in her hands. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. If this was the potion Carmilla thought it was, then there were plenty of ways it could go bad. Carmilla was in NO mood to end up with singed fur.

She stood up and jumped agilely down from the bed, then nudged Laura’s leg with her head.

“Not now, Carmilla,” Laura grumbled without giving her a glance.

Carmilla took a peek at the page the spell book was open to and cringed. Yep, that was the potion she was worried about. The translation had been tricky and the few notes in the margin had left a few too many things open to interpretation. For instance, the line about how adding a certain specific ingredient would cause instant incineration. It almost read as if it _should_ be added when it was actually a warning. Some things, Carmilla felt, should be written in big red letters just to help convey the message of “danger”.

Carmilla attempted to nudge Laura again as she seemed to reach a conclusion about which ingredient she was supposed to add. She set one bottle down and, of course, held on to the one that would lead to certain doom.

_Dammit_. Carmilla stepped back, straightened, and transformed, clothes forming around her as she did so. She pushed her long hair back from her eyes and leaned over Laura’s shoulder, pointing at the passage in the book.

“No, you’re translating wrong. It says don’t add that. Unless you’d like to burn the house down, that is.”

“Oh! Thanks,” Laura mumbled, placing the container hurriedly aside. “That could’ve been bad.”

Carmilla nodded, then stepped back, waiting for the proverbial penny to drop.

Laura turned her attention back to the spell book, her finger tracing along the letters, and then it froze.

_There she is,_ Carmilla thought.

Laura turned slowly, carefully around, her eyes wide, her hand shaking. She glanced quickly around the room, then looked back at Carmilla, taking her in from head to toe.

“C-C-Car-Carmilla?”

Carmilla leaned back against the wall in what she hoped was a nonchalant, nonthreatening way. “Guilty as charged.”

“But you’re a-a p-p-panther. You’re…Oh God!”

Carmilla caught Laura easily as she fainted.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Carmilla lifted Laura clean off the ground and carried her to her bed, laying her down gingerly. She turned off the flame under the cauldron and then she sat down on the foot of the bed and waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura adjusts to Carmilla, the vampire vs. the cat.

Laura blinked blearily a few minutes later, took one look at Carmilla, and sat bolt upright, tucking her knees up under her chin and wrapping her arms protectively around her.

“You’re a person!”

“Close!” Carmilla replied.

“But you were a panther!”

“One of the perks of being a vampire, I’m afraid.”

“You’re a VAMPIRE??”

Carmilla let her fangs descend as proof, then quickly hid them again.

Laura grasped at her neck.

“Don’t worry, cutie. I’ve never bitten you. Don’t you think you might’ve noticed.”

“Well, I never noticed that my panther familiar was actually a vampire, so, I’m kind of questioning a lot of things right now!”

Laura had a point.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ah, well, there was a question that Carmilla had been hoping she wouldn’t be asked. Carmilla shrugged. “You seemed to be having fun?”

“I thought I had a real familiar!”

“Well, I suppose you do, just not the type you thought you did. I can’t break our stupid bond. I’ve tried going outside the 25 meter limit and I can’t.”

“So this whole time you’ve just stayed in panther form to…what? Why? I don’t understand.”

Yes, well, thinking back, Carmilla wasn’t completely sure why either. Or, well, she had a sneaking suspicion, but she’d rather be staked than admit it aloud. “Guess you’re just cute, creampuff.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly not admitting it. Not really the best line she could’ve gone with, all things considered.

Laura’s eyes went wide, and then, wait, was she blushing? She was definitely blushing. Carmilla could hear the blood rushing to her cheeks.

Well, then. That was interesting. Carmilla smirked.

Laura started to smile back, but then her expression quickly turned to a scowl. “You should have told me! I-I talked to you about things! I trusted you! I-“

“It’s not like I’m apt to go blabbing. Besides, it seemed like you needed someone to talk to.”

Laura seemed to consider this, but the frown stayed firmly on her face. “You don’t seem much like a vampire.”

“What should I be doing to seem more vampiric?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t you supposed to turn into a bat, not a panther?”

Carmilla shrugged. “Different animals for different vampires. We _are_ individuals, you know.”

“True. Sorry.”

Laura surveyed Carmilla warily for a few long minutes and Carmilla yawned and leaned back against the wall.

“Well, it’s definitely you,” Laura grumbled.

“It is,” Carmilla agreed.

“So what do I do now? Can a vampire even be a familiar?”

“It strikes me as highly unorthodox, but apparently.”

Laura looked suddenly a little sad. “Do you even want to be my familiar?”

This was it. This was her out. All she had to do was say no and be on her merry way. Maybe she’d track Mattie down and they could revisit Saigon. Now that had been a good time. And yet…

“Yeah, sure. Why not? It’s not the worst way to pass the time. Besides, somebody’s got to make sure you don’t blow up your room.” Carmilla gestured towards the cauldron for emphasis. “You’re too powerful to be left unsupervised.”

“Hey, this was the only time I’ve – Wait, you think I’m powerful?”

“What did you expect to summon when you summoned me?”

“What?”

“When you did the summoning spell, what did you expect to appear?”

“Honestly? That was my third attempt. I wasn’t expecting anything.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. Of course. She tried again. “Okay, but the first time, what were you hoping for?”

“I don’t know. A cat or an owl. Maybe a guinea pig. Preferably something furry and cuddly.”

“So not a centuries-old vampire in the form of a panther, then.”

“No,” Laura confirmed sheepishly.

“Right. Power. You’ve got it. You just don’t know what to do with it.”

Laura crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “Well, it’s hard to teach yourself.”

“I’d imagine that’s true,” Carmilla conceded. “But maybe having a vampire around who’s not so bad at reading ancient languages is a good thing for everyone around you.”

Laura seemed to relax a little. “Maybe,” she muttered begrudgingly. “Well, maybe it’d have been more helpful to know that my familiar was actually a vampire who could talk to me and read ancient languages a little earlier!”

Carmilla didn’t want to think that maybe Laura had a point.

“Oh, God!” Laura declared, tensing up again and covering her chest with her hands. “You’ve seen me naked! In the woods with the dancing you- Oh, God!”

“I did try not to look, if that helps.”

“Not really!” Laura replied, moving one hand to cover her face, but Carmilla still caught the blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Would it help if I said I liked the view?”

Laura spread her fingers apart and peered through them at Carmilla. Carmilla didn’t miss the way her blush deepened just before she ducked her head down and looked away.

“No,” Laura grumbled, but her voice was muffled and unconvincing.

Well, that was interesting. Carmilla smirked. “So, do you still want me as your familiar?”

Laura lowered her hand slowly, still clearly embarrassed and blushing. “It’s a little weird. You’re not exactly furry and cuddly.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow.

“…In this form,” Laura corrected, the blush on her cheeks turning a deeper shade of red.

“I’d like to think I can be at least one of those things, cupcake,” Carmilla replied.

Laura bit her lower lip as she turned away. “Well, anyway, I…I mean I guess we’re bonded to each other, so if you WANT to stay…We might need to find a different sleeping arrangement.”

Carmilla smirked. “Shame. Your bed’s comfy. And I do so like that yellow pillow.”

Laura’s face was so red that Carmilla had the brief thought that it might explode. Carmilla relented.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take the floor. _If_ I can keep the pillow.”

Laura opened her mouth and looked about to protest (though which part she might have been going to protest, Carmilla wasn’t sure), but shut it again. She handed Carmilla the pillow. “Fine.”

That seemed to be the end of the conversation. Laura decided to pack in the potion-making for the night, and busied herself with tidying away and organizing her different ingredients, all while casting furtive glances in Carmilla’s direction. Carmilla sat back and watched curiously. She was nervous, definitely, because Carmilla could hear the racing of her heart, but there was another quality to her glances as well.

There were only a few words exchanged as they got ready for bed (Carmilla borrowing some of Laura’s clothes) and Carmilla did her best to get comfortable on the floor. The room was dark save the moonlight from the window, casting shadows across the room. Carmilla scooted over slightly, trying to find the most padded section of the spare blankets that Laura had given her. Just because she was undead didn’t make floorboards suddenly comfortable. She sighed and readjusted again.

“Carm?”

The use of a nickname made Carmilla freeze. She rolled the name over in her mind. Yeah, that was okay. “Yeah, cupcake?”

“You didn’t feed from me.”

Carmilla waited. She’d already told her that, and there was a distinct lack of physical evidence to the contrary for obvious reasons.

“But you must have fed since you got here.”

Carmilla briefly considered her options and decided that honesty was the best policy. “I have.”

“But…how? From who? Are they okay?”

“I’d sneak out at night once you were asleep. As for the who, a pretty blonde neighbor of yours, who is very much alive and was very much a willing participant.”

“Pretty blonde…ELSIE? You’ve been feeding from Elsie?”

“There were a few others, but she’s conveniently situated within twenty-five meters of your room and she was more than eager to supply a little blood.”

“Oh.”

Carmilla smiled into the darkness of the room at Laura’s tone. Was that a hint of jealousy she detected? “Now that you’re aware of what I am, I can make other arrangements, if you’d prefer.”

“You can’t bite me!”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “I was thinking more along the lines of finding a blood bank and relieving them of a few liters.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess we could do that,” Laura replied.

Carmilla rolled over again and closed her eyes. Laura’s blankets rustled as she pulled them up tighter around her, then silence settled on the room apart from Laura’s steady breathing.

“Carm?” Laura’s voice was gravelly with fatigue.

“Mmm?”

“You okay on the floor?”

“I’m fine, cutie.”

“My bed feels bigger without you in it.”

Carmilla shook her head and smiled. “Go to sleep, Laura.”

“I miss your purr,” Laura mumbled.

Carmilla waited for more, but a few moments later a faint snore emanated from the witch on the bed beside her. “Goodnight,” Carmilla whispered before easing herself into an uncomfortable sleep.

\--

Sleeping on the floor was horrible. Five nights in and Carmilla was having trouble shaking the crick in her neck, vampiric healing abilities or not.

Laura gave her a concerned, apologetic look as she stood, stretched, and groaned.

Laura had been adjusting well to the revelation of Carmilla’s true form and nature, all things considered, though Carmilla’s nose was overly aware of the fact that the first few days afterwards it seemed like garlic bread was going to become another staple to Laura’s diet. She’d had less of it yesterday, though, and so far today she hadn’t had any. Improvement, definitely.

Carmilla peeled off her shirt and began to rummage through Laura’s closet for a new one. She heard Laura clear her throat, and when Carmilla glanced behind her, Laura’s eyes were on her and her cheeks were flushed. Laura looked away quickly and Carmilla smirked as she turned back to the closet. She’d long ago gotten over the need for modesty. Now that she was back in human form, she had no issue changing in front of Laura (who, more than before, changed in the bathroom down the hall). She was evening up the score, anyway, given the amount of Laura’s skin she’d seen.

Okay, perhaps the truth was that Carmilla enjoyed flashing Laura a bit of skin. She liked the way it seemed to make Laura’s breath hitch. She liked the blush that always seemed to settle on Laura’s cheeks. She liked the way Laura seemed unable to NOT look.

“Like what you see, cutie?” Carmilla asked, grabbing a red and black plaid flannel shirt and turning around.

Laura’s face turned redder.

Carmilla smirked wider as she slipped the shirt on and made no rush of buttoning it, starting at the bottom. She didn’t miss Laura’s glance to her chest.

“Why do you DO that?” Laura demanded, jutting out her chin in that stubborn little way that Carmilla found simultaneously adorable and infuriating.

Carmilla feigned ignorance. “Change my clothes or talk to you?”

Laura narrowed her eyes and took a few steps towards her, jabbing a finger accusingly at her. “You know damn well what I mean. You’ve done…You…”

Carmilla looked up from her buttoning to find Laura, suddenly much closer, eyes aimed a fair sight lower than Carmilla’s eyes. Carmilla’s smirk returned. “I what, cupcake?” she asked in a low, sultry voice.

Laura swallowed hard and, after a second, lifted her gaze. “You keep parading around half-naked and you flirt with me just to make me uncomfortable.” Laura’s eyes darted to Carmilla’s lips.

“Do you want me to stop?” Carmilla offered, doing up her last button (leaving two open at the top). Her eyes flicked up to meet Laura’s and she hated to admit it, but she found herself wanting to lean in. She wanted Laura. Worse, she genuinely liked her. Seeing the effect she had on Laura in her human form had become a touch addicting and she didn’t really want to stop. What worried her more than a little is that she knew that if Laura asked, she would.

“No,” Laura replied, “Wait, yes! I meant yes.”

A grin spread across Carmilla’s face. “Well, which one is it, sweetheart?”

Laura looked into her eyes for a moment longer, and for a split second Carmilla thought she was going to lean in, but then she turned and walked away.

“You know, I feel stupid enough that I didn’t realize you weren’t just a normal panther. You don’t have to make me feel worse.”

Carmilla frowned. Was that really what Laura thought she was doing? She moved to Laura’s side and put a hand on her elbow, turning her back to face her. “Hey,” Carmilla said, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind Laura’s ear.

Laura turned into the touch and Carmilla realized exactly what she was doing and dropped her hand to her side.

“You’re not stupid. Maybe a little naïve, but –“

“Hey!” Laura started to protest, but Carmilla held up a hand.

“That’s not always a bad thing, cutie. And I WAS intentionally hiding it from you.”

“I still wish you hadn’t,” Laura mumbled.

“Sorry,” Carmilla replied, frowning as she tried to remember the last time that word had left her lips and she’d meant it. It had been a long time, and yet here she was… She sighed heavily.

“What?” Laura asked.

Carmilla shook her head. “Nothing.”

“No, that sigh was a something.”

Laura’s persistent curiosity was something that Carmilla had noticed since she’d turned back to her human form. Laura seemed to have an endless list of questions that she liked to pester her with in between attempts at spells or while they mixed potions.

While Carmilla wished that Laura would focus a little more on which ingredients she was adding when and what exactly her spell book said, she found she didn’t mind the constant barrage of questions. That wasn’t to say that she was overly forthcoming with her answers, but where would be the fun in that?

“Don’t we have any potions to turn into purple sludge today?”

Laura glared. “I told you, I don’t know why they do that so often.”

“Have you tried cleaning all of your equipment thoroughly and making sure there’s no residual magic bouncing around in that cauldron of yours?”

“How do I check for residual magic?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes and crossed to the spell book. She flipped through it quickly until she found the page she was looking for. “On residual magic,” she translated as she read.

“Oh,” Laura mumbled, joining her at the spell book with a faint blush on her cheeks.

“You know, I wasn’t trying to make you feel stupid…” Carmilla said, bumping her elbow against Laura’s. “With this or with the other stuff.”

Laura looked up at her, disbelief etched across her features. “No? Then what were you trying to do with all the flirting?”

No. No WAY was Carmilla having THAT conversation.

Laura’s eyes went wide before Carmilla could think of a reply. “Oh! Oh. Ooooh.”

Carmilla cringed, but nodded ever-so-slightly.

“Really?” Laura asked.

“Come on, witch, let’s clean your cauldron.”

“Is that a euphemism, or…?”

Laura somehow made cockiness look good, but Carmilla was not in the mood.

“Don’t make me bite you,” she grumbled.

\--

Three more nights on the floor, and Carmilla was on the verge of telling Laura that she was going to spend her nights in panther form even though she knew the idea of her in that form made Laura a little uneasy these days. Carmilla had no doubt that she’d adjust, but her back was in a hurry to not spend another night on the hardwood floor.

She rolled over again, feeling the hardness of the floor especially in her lower back, and contemplated shifting the pillow that was under her head to under her back for a bit of relief, when Laura’s timid voice broke the silence.

“Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“You okay on the floor?”

Carmilla wanted to scoff that she was a vampire, so naturally she was fine, but the ache in her back urged her to tell the truth. “I’ve been more comfortable.”

Carmilla heard the rustle of sheets and movement from above her.

“Here,” Laura muttered.

Carmilla sat up and looked over to find that Laura had scooted all the way over against the wall and was holding back her blankets. Carmilla could hear the blood rushing to her face and knew, despite the darkness, that she was blushing.

“What’re you doing, cupcake?” Carmilla asked, eying the empty space on the bed, but not moving from her spot on the floor.

“Well, it’s not like we weren’t sleeping together for almost two months before I found out you weren’t just a panther, right? So just…here.” Laura cleared her throat awkwardly.

Carmilla briefly debated the wisdom of sharing a bed with Laura, who clearly wasn’t sure about the idea herself, but the bed looked awfully enticing and the floor was as hard and uncomfortable as ever beneath her.

“You sure about this, cutie?”

“Unless you’d rather curl up at the bottom of the bed…” Laura replied with a little bite and Carmilla smirked.

She stood and stretched, feeling her body realign itself with a few satisfying pops. She grabbed the yellow pillow off the floor, placed it in the bed, and then she climbed into bed beside Laura, who pressed even further against the wall.

Carmilla scooted down and pulled the covers over her. She rolled onto her side and faced Laura, who was staring at the ceiling and appeared to be doing her best to take up as little room as possible.

“I don’t bite.”

Laura looked at her, and Carmilla could make out her expression of disbelief in the moonlight streaming in through the window.

“Okay, I do bite, but I promise not to bite you,” Carmilla corrected.

Laura seemed to relax a little bit, but she stayed pressed against the wall, and Carmilla found that she just couldn’t help herself. She moved in a little closer, and murmured, “Unless you ask me to, of course,” in a low voice.

She felt Laura shudder and heard her breathe out a shaky breath, then Laura gave her a small shove.

“Watch it, or you’ll be back on the floor.”

Carmilla chuckled, but she noted that Laura didn’t seem quite so attached to the wall. Carmilla moved back onto her side of the bed and closed her eyes, breathing in the sweet mix of chocolate and lilacs and _Laura_. She felt her body undoing the knots that sleeping on the floor had put in it, and then she felt soft fingers brush her cheek and her eyes flew open.

Laura pulled her hand back quickly, but Carmilla could hear the way her heart had started to race.

“Sorry, I...” Laura swallowed hard. “Goodnight, Carmilla.”

Carmilla’s eyes studied Laura for a moment in the limited light. What was this girl doing to her? Vampires were not supposed to get butterflies in their stomach. She had spent so much of her undead life taking things that she wanted, but she didn’t want to take Laura. Not like that.

She shook the thoughts from her head. “Goodnight, Laura.”

Laura rolled away to face the wall and Carmilla eyes traced the way her hair fell against the pillow and the line of her shoulder curving to her arm and the point of her shoulder blade and all the other little contours that made up Laura until long after her breathing had grown deeper and evened out.

“What are you doing?” Carmilla whispered to herself before closing her eyes firmly and refusing to open them again until long after Laura had risen in the morning.

\--

It had been too long since she’d murdered someone, Carmilla decided. She was going soft. That was the problem. She’d let herself get too comfortable, feeding on return customers and bags of blood. She needed another vacation with Mattie. That would bring her back into herself. That would get her over this silly little crush that had worked its way under her skin and now seemed to invade every fiber of her being.

The problem with that idea, of course, was that she still couldn’t move further than 25 meters from Laura’s side. While Laura hadn’t been all too keen on the idea that Carmilla had been feeding from Elsie, she would also probably object to Carmilla killing her. Besides, her blood wasn’t nearly tasty enough for the angry mob with pitchforks and torches that would inevitably ensue. That, she mused, was largely why she had limited her kills to places she was merely traveling through in recent decades. It wasn’t worth the hassle, for the most part. Besides, there was a certain convenience to meals that could walk themselves to your door over and over again.

Carmilla sighed heavily.

“What?”

Carmilla looked up. “What do you mean what?”

Laura abandoned her spell book and came to sit by Carmilla in the window, and Carmilla welcomed the warmth she brought with her. Yes, this was _definitely_ a problem.

“That was quite the heavy sigh for it to be nothing,” Laura said, nudging her with her shoulder.

Carmilla got caught up in the easy smile that Laura offered her for a moment, then shook her head. The problem was that Laura seemed to have gotten over her initial fear, and now welcomed her proximity. Even in bed at night, Laura had stopped trying to become one with the wall, and now snuggled into Carmilla’s side. It was…well, it was a nuisance, really. It was doing nothing to expel the sudden onslaught of _feelings_ Carmilla had developed.

“Sorry, sweetheart, I dunno what to tell you. It was just a sigh,” Carmilla lied, unable to keep her eyes from darting to Laura’s lips when she licked them.

Laura squinted at her for a moment, then shook her head. “You know, I found a truth spell the other day. Don’t make me try it.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat? Because I’ve seen you try spells. I’m not concerned.”

“Hey, you said yourself I was powerful!”

“Powerful, yes, but also untrained. You’re really pretty useless as a witch, still.”

“Mean! Well, I summoned you didn’t I? Speaking of useless. You’re pretty useless as a familiar.”

“Excuse you, but I do recall keeping you from blowing us up not too long ago,” Carmilla reminded her, a grin on her face as she gazed down into bright eyes.

“Yeah, but it did take you waaay too long to tell me that there was a vampire in town,” Laura pointed out. “I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to protect me from the supernatural as my familiar.”

“I didn’t NEED to tell you. You weren’t in any danger from me.”

Laura’s expression changed and her eyes focused more intently on Carmilla’s. “Why is that?” Laura asked in a quiet voice. She bit her lower lip and Carmilla could feel the sudden nervousness radiating off of her.

Carmilla swallowed hard. How had she wound up being this incredibly close to Laura? God, what the hell? Vampires weren’t supposed to get nervous. Not in situations like this. “What?” Carmilla asked, realizing that the silence was lingering on and an answer was due from her, but not quite remembering the question anymore as she watched Laura’s pupils dilate and heard Laura’s heartbeat echoing in her ears.  

Laura smiled ever-so-slightly and Carmilla’s eyes flicked to her lips again.

“Why haven’t I been in danger from you? Why did you never try to bite me?” Laura asked, and Carmilla could feel her breath against her face.

“If I had, then I’d really have been a useless familiar,” Carmilla murmured, barely paying attention to her own words.

Laura nodded, her eyes never leaving Carmilla’s. Carmilla could feel her drifting ever closer, but if she kissed Laura, she knew it would be so much more than the familiar’s agreement keeping her there. She wasn’t ready for that. She shook her head and pulled away.

“So, see? I’m not useless after all.”

There was a moment where Laura seemed almost disappointed beside her, but then Laura sat up a little straighter and jutted out her chin. “Yeah, well, I’m not either.”

Carmilla tilted her head to the side and smiled at Laura. “No, I suppose not. I’m still not worried about that truth spell, though.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, I’m missing a key component to the spell, anyway. I hate when the spells demand props.”

“Part of the magic, cupcake.”

Laura sighed. “Yeah. Part of the magic. I just wish someone was here to explain it to me.”

Carmilla didn’t have to ask to know that the someone Laura meant was her mom.

She reached out and rubbed a comforting circle on Laura’s back. “Well, we’ll figure it all out together.”

It was hours later before she realized just how much that sounded like a promise.

\--

“Laura, seriously, I was gone for half an hour.”

Laura pouted and pulled a long strand of what might have once been batwing from her hair.

Carmilla sighed and put down the blood she’d been out procuring. “What did you do?”

“It looked like a fairly straightforward potion,” Laura grumbled. “It was mostly translated on the side and everything. I didn’t think –“

“What potion?” Carmilla interrupted, crossing to the spell book.

“Nothing,” Laura replied quickly, cutting her off and closing the spell book with a cringe-worthy squishing sound. Green goo oozed out from between the pages.

Carmilla eyed her curiously. “Nothing?”

“Nope.”

“The fairly straightforward potion that is now dripping from the ceiling was not actually a thing?” Laura was many things, but good at impromptu lying was not one of them.

Carmilla reached up and wiped some of the remnants of the nothing potion away from Laura’s cheek, and realized that she was blushing.

“It was just a silly potion. You’ll laugh.”

“Try me,” Carmilla said, reaching around Laura to try to open the spell book.

Laura put her hand on top of it and Carmilla rolled her eyes. She could so easily open it anyway, but she didn’t understand why Laura was being so sketchy about this.

“Laura,” Carmilla sighed, looking down at her expectantly.

Laura took a deep breath, kept her eyes down and stepped aside. “Fine, go ahead,” Laura grumbled. “Just try not to break anything laughing. I’ll be back.”

Laura stepped around Carmilla and slipped out of the room, leaving a decidedly gooey handprint on the back of the door as she pulled it shut behind her.

Carmilla frowned. Why was she going to laugh? Perhaps the potion was so basic that there shouldn’t be any way humanly possible to mess it up, but Laura did seem to have special skills in that department and that news was hardly new to Carmilla.

Carmilla debated not turning to the page for a minute, glancing between the spell book and the door. In the end, her curiosity over Laura’s odd behavior won out. Unfortunately, the green goo seemed to work rather well as an adhesive, so Carmilla proceeded to spend the next few minutes slowly prying the pages apart, trying not to actively damage the book.

She was in the midst of this activity when a rather bashful looking, but decidedly cleaner Laura entered the room, wiping her face with a small towel.

Carmilla looked up just as she got the pages open. “You’re lucky you didn’t glue all the pages together with this one.”

Laura nodded, but stayed where she was, nervous energy radiating off of her. Carmilla glanced back to the book and her eyes trailed up the list of ingredients to the words at the top of the page. “To attract a mate,” Carmilla murmured aloud. Oh. Well. That was…

Carmilla cleared her throat and looked back to Laura, whose cheeks were flushed a dark red.

“Someone in particular you’re hoping to attract, cupcake?” Carmilla asked. She ignored the flare of jealousy in her at the thought that it might be the giant redhead that had come to call while she was in panther form.

“I just…” Laura’s face turned an even darker shade of red. She tucked her head down, crossed to the spell book, and began carefully dabbing at the page with her towel. “It was just practice. Just an experiment. I mean, how am I supposed to learn unless I try, right? So I just thought –“

Carmilla watched Laura’s flustered ramble and realization struck. She smirked. This was probably not a good thing. The sane option would be to leave. Then again, she mused, she’d left sanity behind the day she’d agreed to be a witch’s familiar.

Carmilla put her hand on Laura’s elbow and tugged, ever-so-slightly, until Laura turned to face her.

“Creampuff,” Carmilla coaxed when Laura wouldn’t meet her gaze.

No reaction.

“Laura,” she tried again, noticing a husky quality to her voice that hadn’t been there moments before.

Laura looked up, embarrassment and nervousness etched across her features.

Carmilla mentally rolled her eyes at herself for thinking that she wouldn’t give in. “Oh, fuck it,” Carmilla breathed, reaching a hand up to cup Laura’s face and pulling her into a kiss all in one smooth movement.

Laura tensed, then relaxed into the kiss.

Carmilla marveled at the softness of Laura’s lips and the tenderness to her touch when she reached up to slide fingers along Carmilla’s jawline. Carmilla pulled back just a little to look at Laura.

“Guess your potion worked after all,” Carmilla murmured, and Laura’s grin in reply rivaled the sun in brightness.

 _I’m such a sap,_ Carmilla thought as Laura pushed up onto her tiptoes, threw her arms around Carmilla’s neck and pulled her back in for another kiss.

Laura tangled her fingers in Carmilla’s hair and Carmilla let the hand that wasn’t still cupping Laura’s cheek settle on Laura’s hip, drawing her body in closer. She was warm, soft, and inviting, and Carmilla wanted to give in and give herself over to her. How had this witch gotten under her skin so thoroughly?

Laura’s lips were surprisingly demanding against her own and her tongue was sweet as it swept into her mouth.

“This is not what I expected when I summoned a familiar,” Laura gasped into her mouth.

Carmilla chuckled against Laura’s lips as she stumbled back towards Laura’s bed, pulling Laura along with her. “This is not what I expected when I appeared in a witch’s pentagram,” Carmilla replied, sitting down on the bed. Her eyes widened when Laura climbed onto the bed after her and straddled her lap.

“Woah, there, cupcake,” Carmilla murmured. She could hear Laura’s heart hammering away in her chest.

Carmilla settled her hands on Laura’s hips, pulling her closer in contradiction to her words.

Laura leaned down eagerly to claim her lips, and Carmilla allowed herself to get lost in the kiss, in the weight of Laura on her lap, in the way Laura’s fingers gripped at the back of her neck, in the way the pad of Laura’s thumb brushed her cheek. When Laura broke the kiss, panting, Carmilla breathed in her faintly chocolatey breath mixing with the floral elements from her shampoo. Laura’s face was prettily flushed, her hair messy, her pupils dilated, and her gaze sultry in a way that Carmilla hadn’t thought her capable of. The sights and smells and the feel of everything _Laura_ did things to her. She was about to pull her back in for more kisses when a knock sounded on the door.

“Go away,” Carmilla grumbled as Laura’s lips ghosted against hers.

Laura chuckled. “Be nice,” she chastised before calling out, “Who is it?” as she climbed out of Carmilla’s lap, much to Carmilla’s chagrin.

“Laura, it’s me. Open up,” the voice on the other side of the door demanded.

Carmilla didn’t recognize the voice, but that didn’t stop her from glaring at the door.

“One sec!” Laura called back, clearly aware of who it was and intending to open the door. She smoothed down her clothes with her hands and ran her fingers through her hair. She shot Carmilla an apologetic look, leaned in, placed a quick peck on Carmilla’s lips and whispered, “They/them,” before moving to the door to open it.

Carmilla frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

“Hey, LaFontaine. What’s up?” Laura asked when she’d opened the door.

“You said I could stop by and get some samples of some of your old potions to run tests on.”

“Oh, oh yeah.” Laura glanced over her shoulder at Carmilla, seemed to debate for a second, then opened the door wider with a sigh.

 _Ah,_ Carmilla realized what the cryptic message must have meant. Pronouns. That was easy enough.

LaFontaine entered and immediately stopped when they laid eyes on Carmilla. A smirk spread across their face.

“Oh. I didn’t know you had…company.” The last word dripped of suggestiveness.

Laura blushed. “LaF, this is Carmilla. Carmilla, this is my friend, LaFontaine. They’re a bit of a mad scientist.”

Carmilla stared at them, taking in the short, but styled ginger hair, the eager, curious gaze, and the still-present smirk. She could see mad scientist. LaFontaine didn’t seem to mind the label either.

“Nice to meet you, Carmilla,” LaFontaine said, stepping forward and offering a hand.

Carmilla debated for a second, but Laura’s urging look swayed her. She took the hand and offered a tight-lipped smile that she knew full-well didn’t reach her eyes. “You too.”

“Did I…Was I…Should I come back later?” LaFontaine asked, eyes sweeping between Carmilla and Laura.

“Yes,” Carmilla replied at the same time Laura said, “No!”

LaFontaine smirked again and Carmilla rolled her eyes.

“You did, and feel free to come back later…I suggest texting first,” Carmilla said as Laura blushed a deep red.

LaFontaine grinned and turned to Laura. “I like her.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Laura mumbled, her face flushing even more.

Carmilla tried not to look smug and failed as LaFontaine grinned wider.

“I see.”

“You don’t have to come back later. Here, I’ve got some of the remnants of my old potions on the shelf over here. One sec.”

“What’s the green goo dripping down the spell book? And can I have a sample?”

“That is a failed potion,” Carmilla informed LaFontaine as they pulled a vial out of one of their pockets and began scraping a sample into it.

“Oooh, that’ll be good to compare with some of the functional ones.”

Laura came back over carrying an armful of small glass containers, and Carmilla half expected her to drop them, creating God knows what effect. She didn’t even though one slipped precariously as she transferred them over to LaFontaine.

LaFontaine straightened and smiled, eying the containers with a sort of glee that brought back thoughts of “mad scientist” in Carmilla’s head, and then LaFontaine turned their attention back to Laura and Carmilla.

“So how did you two meet? And how long has this been going on? Does Danny know?”

Carmilla growled at the redheaded Amazon’s name. “Not yet.”

Laura frowned at her, then turned back to LaFontaine. “Carmilla is…she was…I sort of –“

“I’m her familiar.”

It was LaFontaine’s turn to frown. “Aren’t those usually…smaller? And…less human?”

Carmilla flashed LaFontaine a toothy grin. “Who says I’m human?”

“Carmilla,” Laura scolded, but Carmilla just shrugged.

“I was a panther when I arrived, if that helps.”

LaFontaine furrowed their brows in thought and then realization dawned. “The only creatures I know of capable of things like that are…”

Carmilla let her fangs descend and ran her tongue over them. “Yes?”

To their credit, LaFontaine didn’t instantly cower or attempt to cover their neck. Instead, they stepped closer, curiously. “Does it hurt when you do that? Can I take a sample of your blood? Would you, by any chance, consent to me running a few standard tests?”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow and let her fangs recede. “You’re an interesting one, aren’t you?”

LaFontaine grinned. “So people tell me.”

Carmilla glanced from Laura’s apologetic face to LaFontaine’s eager one. “Tell you what: text next time before you stop by, and maybe we’ll talk.”

LaFontaine beamed. “I really like her,” she told Laura. “You got it, Fangs.” LaFontaine headed to the door, then paused. “Wait, so a vampire can be a witch’s familiar?”

Carmilla shrugged. “Apparently.”

“Interesting. I may have to make some inquiries. Well, thanks for the samples. See you soon!”

With that LaFontaine left and Laura closed the door behind them. She paused, leaning against the door for a moment, then turned to face Carmilla shyly.

Carmilla leaned back on the bed and watched her, waiting for her to make the first move.

“So, we should probably…Maybe we should talk about…I mean, I don’t know the rules, but this is probably not –“

“Breathe, sweetheart.”

Laura took a deep breath and looked up at Carmilla. She nibbled nervously on her lower lip, then smiled. “So, I kinda like my familiar.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Carmilla replied.

“Not the way I like you…”

Carmilla couldn’t stop the smile that crept across her lips. “Well, your familiar thinks you’re pretty cute.”

“Yeah?” Laura asked, stepping forward, her expression turning a little bolder.

“And she thinks that you should be closer to her.”

A small grin played across Laura’s lips and she took a few more steps forward. “We’re going to have to talk about this at some point.”

Carmilla considered that. Actions just spoke so much louder than words sometimes. She shrugged and stood. “Maybe,” she conceded before reaching out to Laura and pulling her into a kiss. “Or we could just do more of this.”

\--

Casting spells and making potions had taken on a new level of difficulty in the week and a half since they had kissed. The main problem was that Carmilla wanted to stay close enough that she made sure Laura didn’t accidentally blow them up or turn them into toads, but whenever they were in close proximity they both had a tendency to get…distracted.

So it was that Carmilla ended up having to act quickly to catch a container of bleeding tooth fungus before it dropped into the cauldron. It wasn’t her fault that Laura’s neck had looked so enticing. She was a vampire after all. She couldn’t help the urge to brush Laura’s hair to the side and place slow kisses down her neck. It also wasn’t her fault that Laura’s response had been to forget that she was in the middle of doing something potentially dangerous and spin around to kiss her properly.

“Careful, cupcake,” Carmilla chided with a wicked gleam in her eye.

Laura blushed, but the look on her face matched the hunger that Carmilla felt for her.

“You shouldn’t distract me while I’m practicing,” Laura replied, leaning in closer to pepper kisses down Carmilla’s jawline.

“Yeah, I’ve heard so many complaints about that recently.”

Laura pinched her side, but continued her onslaught of kisses and Carmilla chuckled.

“It’s okay, cutie. I know I’m irresistible.”

Laura pushed her back towards her bed, but managed to mutter, “More like insufferable,” before bringing their lips together.

Carmilla let Laura push her down on the bed and watched with growing arousal as Laura climbed on top of her with that seductive look that she’d grown quite familiar with over the past few days. It sent a shiver of excitement through her.

“You don’t seem to mind,” Carmilla murmured against Laura’s lips before capturing her lower lip between her teeth and nipping gently at it.

Laura let out a low groan that Carmilla felt more than heard. Carmilla wanted more. She wrapped her arms around Laura and pulled her body into hers. She slipped her fingers up under the back of Laura’s shirt and let them begin to explore the soft skin there.

“I’m supposed to be brewing a potion,” Laura mumbled, pressing her thigh down between Carmilla’s legs.

Carmilla rolled her hips up into the touch without thinking, a small gasp falling from her lips into Laura’s mouth.

“Fuck brewing. We’re busy,” Carmilla replied, letting her hands travel up Laura’s sides, dragging Laura’s shirt up as they went.

A firm knock at the door made Laura freeze and Carmilla growl.

“Don’t answer,” Carmilla urged. “Pretend we’re not here.”

“What time is it?” Laura asked, climbing back to kneel on the bed and check her phone. “Oh, shit.”

Carmilla was about to inquire, when a familiar voice called from the other side of the door. “Laura? Are you there? Are we still on for coffee?”

Laura grimaced and shot Carmilla an apologetic look. “I made these plans before we …“ Laura gestured between them.

Carmilla sulked. “Get rid of her.”

Laura mouthed, “sorry” and climbed out of the bed over Carmilla. She took a few deep breaths to collect herself and tugged her shirt down, then she plastered a smile on her face and opened the door.

Carmilla was growing tired of these interruptions. Patience was something that she had learned in her more than three centuries walking this earth, but when it came to Laura it seemed that she had very little.

“Hey, Danny, I’m sorry, I completely forgot. Today’s not really a good…”

Laura trailed off as Danny pushed past her into the room, peering around as if looking for something. She froze when she saw Carmilla laid out on Laura’s bed.

“…time,” Laura finished in a quiet voice as the tension in the room grew considerably.

“Who’s this?” Danny demanded, gesturing to Carmilla.

Carmilla smirked and stood as Laura made her way sheepishly over to her and placed herself squarely between Danny and Carmilla as if afraid what they might do to each other without a barrier between them.

“This is…” Laura took a deep breath. “…Carmilla.”

Danny narrowed her eyes. “No. Carmilla’s the name of that stupid overgrown cat you think it’s a good decision to keep as a familiar. Speaking of, where is it?”

Carmilla smirked wider and stepped forward, placing her chin on Laura’s shoulder, and giving a little wave with her fingers before wrapping her hand possessively around Laura’s waist.

Danny stared at Carmilla’s hand, then her eyes travelled up to meet hers, and Carmilla could feel the resentment radiating off of her. It made Carmilla feel all the more smug.

“Oh. Okay. I see it,” Danny muttered, glaring at Carmilla. “Laura, what the HELL is going on?”

Laura looked sheepish, and shot Carmilla a stern look, but she didn’t remove Carmilla’s hand from where it lay flat against her stomach and she made no attempt to move away. “Well, it turns out that Carmilla isn’t exactly a panther.”

“You don’t say,” Danny replied, watching as Laura brought her hand up to cover Carmilla’s on her stomach, and Carmilla could feel the way Laura seemed to grow bolder at the touch. Danny’s eyes narrowed.

“Okay, don’t freak out, but she’s kind of…”

Danny shook her head expectantly. “Kind of…” she prompted when Laura hesitated too long for her liking.

“A vampire.”

Danny’s eyes went wide and she scanned the room wildly, while backing up and putting her arms up defensively. “Has she been drinking your blood? Are you under some sort of vampire hypnosis? Laura, do you need help?”

Carmilla snorted and rolled her eyes. Laura shook her head.

“No, she’s…Look, Danny, I’m fine. She’s fine. She’s not…evil or anything.”

Danny didn’t look convinced. “So she doesn’t drink blood or kill people?”

Carmilla smiled a toothy grin and tilted her head down ever so slightly to place an open-mouthed kiss on Laura’s neck. If looks could kill, the one Danny shot her would have left her the sort of dead that her initial murderer had failed to do.

Laura shrugged away, the kiss, but Carmilla could see the flush creeping up her neck and feel the slight shudder that ran through her.

“She does both of those. Well…she hasn’t killed anyone recently that I’m aware of.”

“It’s hard to have meals return when you kill them,” Carmilla said with a shrug.

“LAURA!” Danny exclaimed looking a cross between horrified and extremely disappointed.

“Look, about coffee…” Laura began, but Danny held up a hand, stopping her.

“Are you out of your mind, Hollis?”

Carmilla narrowed her eyes.

Danny pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “I mean, honestly, it was bad enough when she was a panther, but now she’s a vampire?”

“Technically she was always a vampire,” Laura interjected, earning her a tired look from Danny and a squeeze of her hip from Carmilla.

“Laura…” Danny sighed. “I thought we…I…So are you two now…”

Laura’s expression turned apologetic and she stepped forward, out of Carmilla’s arms. Carmilla didn’t like it.

“Danny, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this to happen, I just…well, she’s –“

“Dangerous?” Danny suggested.

“Maybe to you,” Carmilla muttered under her breath.

Laura shot her a disapproving look, and Danny glared at her. Laura turned back to Danny and Carmilla glowered at Danny from behind her.

“Look, can we talk in _private_ for a second?” Danny asked, shooting Carmilla a pointed look.

Carmilla made a show of yawning and looking at the ceiling as if anything the giant might have to say wouldn’t even be worth her listening to.

Laura glanced at Carmilla, then looked back to Danny and nodded.

Danny looked expectantly at Carmilla, who looked back, a bored expression on her face. She wasn’t going to go anywhere.

Laura indicated that they should move out into the hallway, and Danny frowned, but did so.

“I’ll be right back,” Laura murmured to Carmilla with a small smile before following Danny into the hall and closing the door behind her.

Carmilla flopped back down on Laura’s bed and stared at the ceiling. She could still hear them, but tuned them out quickly when it all started to blend together and sound something along the lines of “Blah, blah, blah vampire. Blah, blah, blah dangerous.” Laura, for her part, wasn’t wavering in her opinion, and that was all Carmilla cared about.

Carmilla frowned. She _did_ care. She cared about this human’s opinion. It _mattered_ to her. That idea was still taking some adjusting to. In all her years as a member of the undead, she’d never bonded so thoroughly with anyone. Even Mattie, who she was as close to as anyone, didn’t come close to the way she felt about Laura. Carmilla sighed.

The door to Laura’s room opened, and Laura said, “I’m really sorry, Danny. I’ll see you soon,” over her shoulder, before entering the room and closing the door behind her.

She leaned her back against the door, tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed. Then she stood, straightened, and glared at Carmilla.

“You could’ve played nice.”

Carmilla shrugged. “That doesn’t sound very like me.”

Laura approached the bed and gave Carmilla a little shove. Carmilla scooted over dutifully, and Laura climbed in next to her.

“You’re nice to me.”

“You’re an exception to the rule,” Carmilla replied.

Laura’s hand found her own and Laura laced their fingers together. “Why’s that?”

Carmilla glanced at Laura, but found her looking at their hands. She contemplated her answer, and in the end settled for, “Because you’re you.”

Laura’s eyes came up to meet hers and a small smile formed on her lips.

Carmilla stared back at her and felt a matching grin spread across her face. “Hey,”Carmilla said, touching her forehead to Laura’s and leaning in enough to bump their noses together.

“Hey,” Laura replied with a contented sigh.

“You okay?”

Laura nodded. “She’ll come around.”

“I don’t mind if she doesn’t.”

Laura pinched her side and Carmilla chuckled.

“But I hope she does for your sake,” Carmilla added half-heartedly.

“Thank you.” Laura’s eyes were heavy-lidded and her breath fell hotly against Carmilla’s skin. “I think,” she murmured softly, a husky quality coming out in her voice that made Carmilla tingle in response, “that we were in the middle of something before.”

“Mm,” Carmilla agreed, moving in closer, her lips almost ghosting against Laura’s.

“Something important,” Laura added, her lips brushing Carmilla’s as she spoke.

“Mmhmm,” Carmilla hummed, pressing her lips to the side of Laura’s mouth.

“Something we should finish.”

“Laura?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up,” Carmilla instructed before kissing her hard.

She felt Laura grin into her mouth, and then Laura was kissing her back fiercely. Laura rolled and positioned herself half on top of Carmilla. She slid her leg between Carmilla’s and Carmilla repressed a moan as one of Laura’s hands began to wander over her stomach.

Laura’s fingers found the hem of her shirt and started to slide it up as Carmilla let her hands travel down over Laura’s back.

Carmilla whined in protest when Laura’s lips left hers, but it turned into a hum of approval sloppy kisses were peppered along her jawline and down her throat. Laura settled to lick and suck at her pulse point, and Carmilla tilted her head back to give her better access.

Carmilla laced the fingers of one hand through Laura’s hair, holding her close as the fingers of her other hand gripped Laura’s shoulder through the thin fabric of her shirt.

“Carmilla?” Laura murmured before grazing her teeth against the tender skin of Carmilla’s throat.

“Mmm?” Carmilla wasn’t sure why Laura was trying to talk right now when there were so many better thing she could be doing with her mouth.

Laura moved to lick and kiss across Carmilla’s collarbone as if reading her mind.

Why were they both still completely clothed? Carmilla wondered. She began to tug on Laura’s shirt, needing to feel the smooth skin beneath, desperate for more contact as Laura sucked a mark that would fade far too soon onto the base of her throat.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” Laura breathed against her skin, fingers pulling insistently at the fabric of her shirt as her lips moved across her chest.

“Now?” Carmilla grumbled as she shifted and arched her back so that Laura could pull her shirt over her head. She made quick work of Laura’s shirt once she was done, and then she and Laura collapsed back into another kiss, all thoughts of conversation momentarily forgotten.

Laura brought a hand up to palm at Carmilla’s breast through her bra, and Carmilla moaned into her mouth. Laura’s skin felt exquisite against her own, but there wasn’t enough of it still. She needed more. She let her finger slip around Laura’s back and find the clasp of her bra, unhooking it deftly.

Laura was panting when she broke the kiss to shrug her bra off her shoulders, slide it down her arms and toss it aside.

Carmilla’s eyes swept hungrily over Laura’s chest before their lips met again.

“Mmm. Yes. Now.” Laura mumbled, her breath hitching as Carmilla’s fingers found her breast and brushed first lightly, then harder against her nipple.

Carmilla’s brain took a moment to catch up. Now what? She knew what she wanted to happen now, but it sounded like Laura meant something different. Right. Talking. Carmilla shook her head. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to…

_Oh, fuck._

Carmilla gasped as Laura’s fingers pushed her bra up and she rolled her nipple between them.

Despite her words, Laura kept her lips busy kissing a hot path back down Carmilla’s neck and across her chest. Laura’s mouth replaced her fingers and she sucked Carmilla’s nipple into her mouth and flicked her tongue across it.

Carmilla hissed as she grabbed at Laura’s back, then raked her fingers up it. How had Laura gotten so good at this? Scratch that, she thought, as a jealous growl erupted from her throat. She didn’t really want to know.

Laura lavished more attention on Carmilla’s breast and, Carmilla tangled her fingers in Laura’s hair, holding her there. A small whimper escaped her lips and her back arched off the bed as Laura’s hands slipped beneath her back, unclasping her bra. Carmilla quickly pulled it off and threw it across the room, not caring where it landed, only caring that Laura’s hands were back on her.

“Carmilla,” Laura murmured, her hot breath on Carmilla’s nipple making her shiver. Laura flicked her tongue across her nipple once more then kissed her way across to her other breast and began to shower the same attention onto it. “Carm?” Laura tried again a few minutes later, but, God, Carmilla did NOT want her to stop.

“Mmm?” Carmilla hummed arching into Laura’s touch.

Carmilla’s nipple slipped from Laura’s mouth with a wet popping sound and then Laura’s hands were fumbling with the button of her pants while her lips ghosted across her stomach.

“Carm, I don’t want you to be my familiar anymore,” Laura informed her, and it was like a sudden splash of cold water.

Carmilla’s head shot up to look down at Laura, her brows furrowed. “What?”

Laura grinned triumphantly as she got the button undone and unzipped Carmilla’s pants. She began to attempt to drag them down her legs, but when Carmilla didn’t lift her hips to help, she looked up in concern. “What?” Laura frowned in confusion.

“You don’t want me as your familiar anymore?” Carmilla hated to admit that it stung, but it did.

Laura moved back up and stroked Carmilla’s face, letting her fingers trail up and press on the furrow between her brows. “No, I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, placing tender kisses across Carmilla’s cheek. “No, I just mean…” Laura pulled back and looked into Carmilla’s eyes. “I think we should break the agreement. I don’t want you to HAVE to be bound to me.”

“Oh.” Carmilla felt her body relaxing back into the feel of Laura against her.

“I want to know that you’re here for me and not because you have to be,” Laura said, ducking her head shyly.

“Oh,” Carmilla said, realization sinking in. She grinned and pulled Laura in for a kiss. “And this had to be discussed right now?” Carmilla mumbled against Laura’s lips as Laura’s hands returned to her pants. This time Carmilla eagerly lifted her hips to help, and Laura kissed a hot trail down Carmilla’s body as she dragged her pants down her legs. Carmilla kicked them aside, and sat up to help Laura undo her jeans.

Her eyes trailed up Laura’s stomach to her chest and Carmilla licked her lips hungrily before pressing hard kisses to her breasts. She flicked her tongue against one of Laura’s nipples and grinned against her skin when Laura gasped and her hips bucked forward.

“Jesus, Carm,” Laura moaned when Carmilla sucked her other nipple into her mouth.

Vocal, Carmilla noted. She liked that. She wondered what other words she might be able to coax from Laura’s mouth. She let her tongue roam languidly across Laura’s chest, content, for now, to drag this out.

Laura, it seemed, was not in the mood for patience, though, because a minute later she was wiggling out of her jeans and pushing Carmilla back down on the bed, her mouth demanding as it worked its way across her skin.

“God, the things you do to me,” Laura breathed against her hipbone, and Carmilla suddenly needed Laura to be touching her elsewhere.

“Cupcake,” Carmilla whined, “the feeling is mutual.”

Laura paused in kissing her way across Carmilla’s stomach just above the elastic of her panties to grin against her skin. “Good.”

Carmilla rocked her hips up, hoping that Laura would understand, and mercifully she did. Her fingers that had been burning hot trails along her sides and across her breasts trailed slowly down her stomach as Laura kissed her way back up.

“So you won’t be my familiar anymore?” Laura asked as she dipped her fingers just below the elastic of Carmilla’s panties.

Really? This again? Carmilla rolled her hips up again in an attempt to refocus Laura’s attention elsewhere, but the stubborn witch was not to be deterred.

“Fine. No, I won’t,” Carmilla confirmed.

Laura kissed her way along Carmilla’s jawline to her ear and sucked her earlobe into her mouth as her fingers slid lower and brushed ever-so-lightly against Carmilla’s clit.

Carmilla let out a low groan. “More,” she pleaded, needing far more pressure. God, she just wanted Laura’s fingers inside her already.

“I saw an easy enough ritual to undo the agreement,” Laura murmured, moving her lips back to Carmilla’s pulse point, fingers grazing past her clit again.

Carmilla bucked her hips and moaned as the contact proved again far too fleeting. “Dammit, Laura, will you shut up and fuck me already?” she whined, her voice gravelly.

Laura pulled back and looked down at her with a grin.

“What?” Carmilla growled, canting her hips forward yet again.

“You called me Laura,” she replied. She planted a tender kiss on Carmilla’s cheek. In a moment the adorable expression on her face was replaced with bedroom eyes and a wicked grin. Carmilla wondered briefly how it could be the same girl who was so wide-eyed just a second before, but then Laura’s fingers were sliding through her wet center, and Carmilla’s head fell back against the pillow, her retort of “Well, that’s your name, sweetheart,” dying on her lips.

“Fuck,” Carmilla gasped, grasping at the sheets.

“Say it again,” Laura coaxed, dipping a finger just barely inside her.

“What?” Carmilla asked, not able to keep up with conversation now that Laura was on the verge of touching her properly.

“My name,” Laura growled softly into her ear as she thrust a finger into her.

Carmilla let out an involuntary grunt and bit her lip. She struggled to open her eyes and take Laura in, but Laura added a second finger and slid achingly slowly in and out of her.

“Fuck,” Carmilla whimpered.

“That’s not my name,” Laura purred, thrusting in again with a curl of her fingers.

Carmilla rocked up to meet Laura’s thrusts as she picked up the pace a little. Carmilla tangled her fingers in Laura’s hair, pulling her in for a sloppy kiss. She tugged at Laura’s lip with her teeth, before letting go as Laura put the weight of her body behind her next thrust.

A strangled sound left Carmilla’s throat.

Laura chuckled breathily. “I don’t think that’s my name either.”

It was ridiculous, really, the effect that Laura’s fingers were having on her. Laura’s fingers and her voice. Laura’s fingers, voice, and lips.

Carmilla gasped when Laura’s thumb brushed her clit.

“Nope, that’s not it either,” Laura murmured, once again kissing her way down Carmilla’s throat. Her teeth grazed along Carmilla’s collarbone as her thumb began to circle her clit.

Carmilla could already feel herself starting to unravel at Laura’s touch, and if she’d been able to think properly she’d probably have been embarrassed at the speed at which it was happening. She couldn’t think, though. Not while Laura’s thumb was finding a steady rhythm on her clit and her fingers were curling inside her just so. Not while her lips were kissing a path back to her breasts and Carmilla could feel heat pooling low in her stomach.

“Oh, God!” Carmilla gasped when Laura sucked her nipple into her mouth, her body jolting in response.

“Mmm, I don’t think I’m a god, but I appreciate the compliment,” Laura mumbled cheekily, and Carmilla made a mental note to pay her back for her smugness very soon.

Carmilla slid her hand from Laura’s hair to her back and gripped tightly. If her nails digging in hurt, Laura didn’t complain. Instead she flicked her tongue against her nipple again before switching to the other breast. She changed the angle of her hand just slightly, and suddenly she was hitting in _all_ the right places.

“Fuck! Lauraaaaa!” Carmilla moaned, drawing out the last syllable as her orgasm washed over her. She squeezed her eyes shut as pleasure flooded through her, overwhelming her senses.  

Laura rode it out with her, slowing her thrusts and trailing tender kisses up her chest. Carmilla’s eyes fluttered open and she took in an incredibly pleased looking Laura, staring at her with a gleam in her eyes. She was breathing heavily as she pulled Laura down for a lazy kiss, her body still shaking slightly.

Laura pulled her fingers out of her, sliding them out of her underwear and broke the kiss. Carmilla watched with an excited shiver as Laura brought her glistening fingers to her mouth and sucked them clean, her eyes fluttering closed and a contented hum emanating from her throat. When Laura opened her eyes again, she grinned down at Carmilla.

“There. Was that so hard?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes, and pulled Laura back in for another kiss, moaning when she tasted herself on her lips.

She flipped them, wedging her leg between Laura’s thighs and leaning into it as she kissed her with a little more purpose. God, Laura was wet.

“I never figured you for smug, cupcake,” Carmilla murmured between kisses. She moved to trail kisses down Laura’s throat as her fingers began to freely explore her skin. “I hope you know retaliation is in order.”

Laura’s chuckle turned into a throaty moan when Carmilla rolled her nipple between her fingers.

“Holy fucking shit!” Laura exclaimed as Carmilla shifted her hips to create more pressure between Laura’s legs.

Oh yeah, Carmilla thought, grinning against Laura’s breast, payback was going to be oh-so-fun.

\--

“You know, I think we’re going to need to do something about this living arrangement,” Carmilla mused as she traced idle circles on Laura’s bare shoulder.

Laura tensed where she lay, head cradled on Carmilla’s chest, and her face fell. She wiggled up next to Carmilla to better look at her, a frown on her lips. “Oh. Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess since you’re not going to be my familiar anymore, I get that you don’t want to live-“

Carmilla brought a finger to her lips to quiet her and grinned. “Not what I meant, cupcake. I just meant maybe we could find a place we don’t have to share that could actually fit a bed that would comfortably fit the two of us.”

“Oh,” Laura mumbled, a blush creeping up her cheeks (and, Carmilla noted with appreciation, across her chest). “Well, that’s a nice idea, but I can’t really afford anywhere else.”

“Did I ever mention that I’m a countess? Or was in my human life, at least. Besides, you live for over 300 years, you accumulate a few assets.”

“You’re a what? So you’re saying –“

“We can afford a bigger place, and we can _definitely_ afford a bigger bed,” Carmilla informed her.

“Oh. Cool.”

“Cool?”

“Well, I don’t mind sharing the small bed. It’s cozy. It gives me an excuse to touch you,” Laura said, her blush deepening.

Carmilla kissed her gently. “Trust me, sweetheart, you don’t need an excuse.”

Laura grinned and Carmilla found herself grinning back like an idiot.

_Well, damn._

Countess Carmilla Karnstein, vampire by rebirth, was falling in love. With a witch, no less. Well, she mused as Laura kissed her again, her fingers trailing down Carmilla’s stomach, there were worse ways to spend the afterlife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And thanks to [MoreLikeCreamhuff](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MoreLikeCreamhuff) for some help with this chapter.


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